Irish firm’s virtual reality Titanic trip to launch on PlayStation

Irish firm VR Education’s virtual reality trip on the Titanic is set for launch on Sony’s PlayStation later this month.

Titanic VR puts players aboard the doomed vessel the night it hit an iceberg and sank in April 1912. It will be available from November 22nd.

The Titanic experience has already been launched on PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. But the company said it expects the PlayStation VR version to drive sales, replicating the experience of its Apollo 11 VR showcase.

David Whelan, chief executive of the Waterford-based firm, said the process had taken longer than expected.

“Importantly, the release will occur in the current financial year and will allow Titanic VR to have exposure on this major platform over the Christmas trading period,” he said.

VR Education, founded in 2014 by David and Sandra Whelan, uses virtual reality in digital education and corporate training. Its main focus is its online learning and corporate training platform Engage, which is set for launch in December.

Engage allows lessons, meetings and presentations to be held in a virtual, multi-user environment and help trainers create pre-recorded or live content.

The company began trading on the AIM in London and the ESM in Dublin earlier this year, raising £6 million and giving it a market capitalisation of £19.3 million in March. The proceeds from that share placing were intended to fund further development of Engage, fuel its marketing strategy and produce new content.

Among the company’s partners are the University of Oxford, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the BBC.

In March the husband and wife team were named Irish Times Business People of the Month.